Incident 33695

Lyna Ann Tschann, 38, on Tuesday entered a guilty plea as part of a plea agreement to one count of fifth-degree drug possession, a gross misdemeanor, in Mower County District Court.

Tschann was initially charged with theft of a controlled substance, and two counts of fifth-degree drug possession, all felonies. Her sentencing is set for May 17.

Austin police on Jan. 31 talked with a man who told them he believed that Tschann, his nurse, was stealing his prescription medication after he noticed pills missing and found others on the floor. The man told police he set up his iPad to record Tschann when she came to his residence. The video showed her taking pills out of his medication bottles and placing them in her pants pocket, according to court documents. He later shared this video with Austin police.

The man also began counting his pills before and after Tschann arrived and noted discrepancies in the number of pills he had, according to court documents.

Austin police located Tschann and arrested her; she gave them permission to search her residence, where they located more pills, including hydrocodone and morphine, a wrapper for a fentanyl patch, and two empty bottles of liquid morphine and syringes, according to court documents.

Tschann told police that she stole four morphine pills from the hospice patient and admitted she had used the fentanyl patch, according to court documents.